Shout out to whotellsyourstory, who is betaing an attempt at original fiction! Her Mass Effect fic is really great, and I highly recommend it!

"Here we are, don't turn away now; we are the warriors who built this town..."

"Warriors"- by Imagine Dragons

Allison sat int the quiet, watching the hypnotic light of NLS as she got closer and closer to earth. Disappointment raged inside of her; these 'Guardians' were soft. She wished bitterly that she'd questioned Asher more on the Chosen of the future-of today, she reminded herself firmly. Perhaps Titan wouldn't have been such a bad learning experience.

Radegast wouldn't have ordered us to run away; he would have ordered us to run head on at the enemy so it had something to focus on while the civilians escaped. She could see it in her minds eye; Timur leading an evacuation while Silimar and Orwing used their metal shields to block incoming fire. Herself and the others rallying to take on the Cabal while the innocent escaped.

Anyone who survived the attack would follow, continue protecting. Help build shelters. Hunt for food, care for the sick. That was how it would have been.

That was how it hadn't been for the Last City.

Fools, gathering everyone into one spot... Building a wall? How was a wall supposed to help against an air attack? Or had the designers implemented some kind of shielding? She wouldn't know, she hadn't asked. What mattered was that Humanity needed help, big time. All she had to do was find the refugee camp, offer to help; once they saw she still had powers, they'd be more than grateful to accept her offer.

At least now I'll be around actual trees instead of a wasteland planet... Io had really sucked.

The console beeped, and she tapped on the interface several time before figuring out how to drop out of NLS. Earth suddenly loomed into view, and she started fiddling with the comms to try to find the right frequency.

"Farm, this is Darkrose, requesting coordinates and permission to land." she tried. Yielding no response, she flipped through each channel individually, and repeating the request, damn the consequences. Probably making some confused Cabal tech scratch their head right now. She was lucky to get through five channels without them

"Farm, this is Darkrose, and I've had the mother of all bad days. Consecutively. Every day. For the past. Two. Months. So help me, I'll-"

"Darkrose, this is Farm!" An accented voice finally responded. She could hear gunfire in the background, and she stiffened. "CORPORAL, get to the relay and send her coordinates! We're under attack by Fallen, there are civilians behind us and we can't hold for long! Is the Vanguard behind you?"

"They wouldn't come. But I still have my powers, so hold out as long as you can. I'll see what I can do."

"You bloody well better!"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" she commented to nobody in particular as the line cut out. Moments later, the ship pinged incoming coordinates. She programmed them into the ship's system, and let the autopilot do it's work. Please don't crash me, please don't crash me, please don't crash me...

As she soon found out, crashing was the least of her problems. The moment transmat set her on the ground, all she heard was chaos; people screaming orders, people screaming in terror, Fallen screaming with glee...

And a Titan screaming as he charged a line of dregs with a large tree branch held like a spear. He impaled three of them, and threw the log(bodies and all) into the others. Allison whipped out her hand cannon and took advantage of the disorder the Titan had caused, picking off survivors. Goo to see Titans don't need the Light to do something excessive.

But more Fallen replaced them, and though her own gun and the clak-clak-clak of the Titan's never ceased, it wasn't enough to contain them or get them into a choke point. Okay, that's it! She dove out from behind the boulder she'd used as cover, drew her bow, and fired a long-range anchor shot. It struck one of the lead vandals, disintegrating it, and hungry tendrils of void latched on to the crew that had been coming in with him. Within moments, the Titan's gunfire had killed one of the trapped Fallen, causing a chain reaction of void explosions that significantly thinned the herd as she dodged back into cover.

"Snipers, cover fire! Artillary, take out those skiffs!" The Titan ordered, voice likely being relayed by his Ghost. He ducked down next to her. "How long will that shot last?"

"I can hold for a few minutes." she told him.

"We need to fall back and take care of the ones that got through." He told her. He rose, fired several shots, and signaled for her to run into the forest they'd had their backs to. She ran, and he quickly followed, as sniper fire rang through the air, picking off stragglers. "Corporal, hold this position while Darkrose and I take care of the Farm!"

"How many got through?" she asked as they ran.

"A dozen at least until I got here; bloody-" he was cut off as a fallen with a spear jumped from the undergrowth and tried to impale him, several others like it following. The Titan grabbed hold of the shaft, and swung it so hard that it's owner was sent flying into a tree with a deadly crack. Allison was too slow to dodge, and one of the spear bogymen managed to catch her in the side. She used it's own weapon to tug it closer, and plunged a dagger of void Light into it's shoulder. Flinging the body and weapon away, she threw the void spike into the throat of another Fallen, with the Titan snapped another's spin with his knee.

Clutching her side, Allison hissed through her teeth as the wound smarted with her movements. She could hear more Fallen up ahead, and the screams of the humans running from or fighting them.

"How bad is it?" the Titan asked, concern in his tone.

"I'll live." she grunted. It was long, but shallow. She'd been through far worse, for now, there was a battle to finish.

"Everyone keep moving! Stay together!" Timur's voice rose above the fleeing people. Some carried things, others did not, but all were in a hurry to flee the fallen. Allison fired another anchor shot, tethering a captain and several of it's lackey's. She wasn't sure she could hold it for long, and her Light was so exhausted, she didn't think she could fire any more arrows, either.

"Is everyone out yet?" she called above the din of fire, fallen, and scared villagers as the Warlock joined her side, short sword drawn.

"Not yet, just a few more it looks like." he told her. He ran forwards and stuck a dreg through. She drew her gun, and shot the tethered fallen. Explosions of void Light popped all around.

"How long do you think we can hold them?" she asked, more for his benefit than her own. This was his first real battle. He pulled his sword out of the dreg, and brought it down on another that had tried to rush him from the side. When he cut it down, he turned briefly to meet her eyes. His brown hair was sticking to his face, the flames illuminated dirt, blood, and sweat, and his eyes were bright with Light.

"As long as it takes, whatever it takes." It was in that moment, she knew no matter what happened next... Timur would be fine. He was finally, truly, ready as a Chosen.

Allison winced as she pulled the clean shirt down over her head. She rubbed at the bandages that now covered her cut, even though she'd insisted it would heal quickly and the supplies would be better used on those who needed them. The Titan whom she'd been fighting beside, Shaxx, had none of that, and said they couldn't have her coming down with an infection.

The 'modern' gauze felt strange, the unsettled adhesive pulling at her skin as her body moved. The pad brushing against the edges of her wound was oddly chilling. A shirt this clean, perfectly solid color, made of a breathable material that felt like silk but certainly wasn't and was far more durable. It was unheard of in her time, as were the slacks she now wore. So many pockets! And they fit so perfectly, they seemed impossible.

Everything in her time had some degree of ruin and imperfection to it. Even cast out from their futuristic city, even without Chosen to defend them, even here on the edge of it all, these people had such luxury!

"Is Darkrose patched up, doc?" Shaxx's head poked into the tent. He'd taken his helmet off; his face was all sharp features, grey eyes, with dark hair that was in a helmet-ruined undercut style that was lined by two braids.

"I'm ready when you need me." she told him. The doctor moved on to her next patient, a man who had somehow gotten a wood shard stuck through his hand.

"Good, we have a lot to go over." he told her, motioning for her to follow. She did. "I've set up a tighter night watch, but you never know what will happen."

The night was crisp and cool. People were repairing some of the minor damages that the area had taken during the fight. The water wheel could be heard creaking, and a bloody, dead chicken near the med tent shed more of it's feathers as a gust of wind blew through the air. There was still blood and spilt ether on the ground, and people were working to cover the latter with dirt so it wouldn't pose a problem.

"I knew the Iron Lords; was an honorary one, myself." Shaxx started as he led the way to a barn. He turned once to fix her with a steel stare. "I know who you are, Darkrose. I heard the stories right from the source. Suffice it to say, I want to know how the bloody hell it's possible for you to be here."

"In a word? The Vex." she told him. Might as well get this over with now. "I fell in the Vault of Glass, and got caught in some sort of time loop until my Ghost found a way to send me out. Came out on Io, met a few Warlocks, went to Titan with them, and found out you guys were still down here. I thought I might as well do what I've always done."

"Do you know what happened to the Iron Lords?" he asked, voice softening.

"Yes." She answered curtly. It still hurt. It never wouldn't. "I found out the day I came back. I've... dealt with most of it."

"If you need to talk, let me know." Shaxx nodded in understanding as they entered the barn; it was being used as some sort of makeshift repair hangar. "Lord Saladin survived that, but we haven't heard from him since the City fell. He's only one out of hundreds who are MIA. Our numbers have never been so low, and the Vanguard aren't responding to our distress calls."

"Like I said, they wouldn't come. They know about you guys, but that Commander is dead set on retaking the City as fast as possible." she told him. The stairs they walked on creaked ominously under the weight of Shaxx's armor. " I gave them a bit of a 'talk' before I left, though. Here's to hoping it changed their minds a bit."

"Dammit, Zavala." the man shook his head. "He's headstrong, but too often he leaps before he looks. He forgets to think. Devrim!"

The man on the balcony stopped short with a steaming mug of something halfway up to his mouth. His bushy eyebrows raised. "Yeeeees?"

"I thought I relieved you hours ago? Where's Hawthorne?" The Titan demanded. 'Devrim' shifted the position of the rifle that lay across his lap, and set his mug down the small table next to him, upon which also sat a pair of binoculars.

"She went out to fiddle with that comm relay again. And I'm afraid my insomnia is relapsing; thought I might as well make myself useful." he explained with a shrug.

"Go see if Eir has any sleeping drugs in her stockpile; we can't have our best shot half-asleep at the scope."

"I'd rather not-"

"Devrim."

"Fine, then. I'll go. Who's our new friend?" the englishman regarded Darkrose, who had spent the exchange leaning against the wall.

"Darkrose." she said. "Just a Hunter."

"Devrim Kay, City Militia." he extended a hand, and she shook it polity. "And Lord Shaxx likes to exaggerate; I'm not really the best shot here."

"Stop humbling yourself. Own it." the Titan grunted. "And get some sleep, Kay."

"Yes, yes, I'm going. Do tell Suraya that Louis got out and ate another rooster today?" the sniper asked before heading down. "She needs to make him a new tether, he could have been killed during the attack."

"I'm going to assume Louis isn't the crazy wild man you keep tied in the shed?" she raised an eyebrow in Shaxx's direction.

"No. Hawthorne's a falconer; her favorite bird is an escape artist." He waved her over to look at a map that was pinned to the wall. There was one large 'X' in red, a perimeter outlined in blue, blots in several different shades of purple, green squares in several places, and a black line drawn across over nearly one half of the map's entirety. Shaxx pointed at the 'X'. "This is the Farm. The green is encampments we've set up throughout; the one in the far corner is actually a re-purposed Hide. The Farm itself has very few civilians in it, we sent most of the children, elderly, pregnant, and wounded to the Hide since it's so well-defended. The rest are scattered throughout so we don't have all our chickens in one coop. It stretches us thin, but if the City can't be retaken, it's a basis for spreading out later on."

"Good. At least gets them used to living in separate groups; I hear villages aren't a thing anymore." she commented bitterly.

"Ahhh, villages. I miss those. Anyway, the dark purple is Fallen encampments, ones with an black 'X' are ones we managed to wipe out. Light purple is point of origin for raids like the one we experienced today." he continued. "The black area is off-limits; we've lost too many Lightless Guardians who went in trying to reclaim their powers."

"By Linking to the Shard. I heard." Allison nodded. "It sounds like a big risk on an old rock."

"Indeed. And the few who have come back say they were unsuccessful. Alder-8 was the only one to get his powers back." he agreed, turning to meet her gaze with her own. His eyes contained a deep ferocity, but also intelligence. "But now, we have you. The Vanguard can keep him; we have Lady Darkrose. Not to say that's all that defines you, but it will mean hope; something that's in short supply as of late."

"I'm just a Hunter." she raised both hands defensively. "And I'm Ghostless, so I can't do much. "

"You're fresh from the Dark Age." He snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sometimes, I feel like the only person around who has a brain. That might be because I spend all my time training hopeless rookies, but having someone else around who remembers how things worked back then will be a big help. These people... they don't know how to function without the luxuries of the City. Part of winning this war, is teaching them how. Making sure that even if Ghaul wins, humanity lives on. It would be the last slight we could make at the Cabal, a victory in and of itself. I would die scattering the Red Legion, but that would mean nothing if there wasn't something left to live on."

"I can see your point." she sighed. "I'll do what I can."

"Even if I were to say... ask you to do a speech?"

"A speech? Why would I make a speech?"

"You're a legend come back from the past, and Chosen who still has powers. These people need hope, inspiration. A kick in the backside. You should give them one."

"I'm all up for kicking!" Allison laughed. "But speeches? Oh, no; I didn't do the talking. Something about too much 'dry humor' and 'cynicism'. No idea what they were talking about."

"Here's a deal, then; if you can tell a good story, you can give a speech no problem." he proposed. Allison smirked.

"A story, huh?" she thought about it.

"To make it even, I'll give you free beer and tell one myself.

"Oh, really now? Free beer?" she grinned. "Bit soon, don't you think."

"Not like that." he chuckled. "Nightstalkers; you take things too seriously. Sometimes, a Guardian just has to relax, have a drink, and trade a story. Everyone needs a break at some point, it sounds like you could use one."

"If you say so." she shrugged. "Who goes first?"

"Me, of course. West?" the man smiled, his Ghost appearing over his shoulder. It pulsed, bringing something out of it's quantum pocket, and two beer appeared in the Titan's hands.

"Really?" she couldn't not laugh. "Your Ghost carries beer?"

"Everyone's Ghost carries beer. In an emergency, it can purify the alcohol; makes for a nasty drink, but very handy for disinfecting wounds in a pinch. Learned that one from Lady Efrideet." he shrugged, holding one drink out. In her time, a can of beer was rare, and probably worth as much as your gun if your Ghost knew how to work the chemicals, precisely for the reason Shaxx had mentioned.

"I'm going to assume she joined after me?"

"Ahhh, Lady Efrideet. I liked Lady Efrideet. Let me tell you about her..."

"Miles down, he plummets, like-like a cannon shot out of a frick'n anti-aircraft gun!" Shaxx boomed, making a 'falling' motion with one hand, before becoming completely still, eyes shining. "Right into a Fallen Walker.

Allison cracked up laughing. "She threw Saladin!? Oh, that's golden!"

Whether he'd chosen that story for her benifit, she couldn't tell, but it did the trick. She could picture it in her minds eye... well, sort of.

"Hold up; how big was Efrideet?"

"Four foot five."

"No!"

"Oh, yes. Amazing what Light can do, eh?"

The mental image really was spectacular. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed this hard. When I find Saladin, I'm not going to let this one go!

"What did Jolder say?" she asked, wiping away tears of mirth.

"He begged us not to tell her. Got down on his knees and actually begged us not to tell anybody about it." Shaxx snickered. "Ahh, I miss those days. They weren't easy times, but we lost a lot of things with the City Age. Okay, your turn."

"Any requests?" she asked. She had never been one for telling stories.

"I once asked Timur how he joined the Iron Lords. Just a bit of curiosity." the Titan leaned forwards, eyes shining. " This led to a quest to find anyone who would tell me about it, because no matter who I asked, they kept their trap shut. I always figured it had to be a good one; Silimar blushed, and I'm fairly certain Bretomart gave me the stink eye for a week."

"That's because they got their butts kicked." Allison grinned. "Timur felt like he was ready to talk to the Iron Lords. I'd spent some time helping him get in touch with his powers, and we were heading up this ravine-last place the Iron Lords were spotted-when some nincompoop starts shooting at us."

"In the end, it turned out to be Silimar. Fresh-rezzed Silimar. Silimar who was capable of literally shooting his eye out when there's nothing for the bullets to ricochet off-I'm not kidding, it actually happened! I saw it!" she insisted as Shazz cracked up. "He was fresh as rose buds! So Timur rushes him, and he jerks the gun around and shoots his eye out. I thought I had taught Timur better than that, tried to call him back; then, Bretomart comes out of nowhere... and he crashes right into her. They fall down the hill... and wind up in a very compromising position."

"I can see why she'd be bothered by that!" Shaxx gasped out between booming laughs. "Proud as a rock, she was! Tackled by a Warlock!"

"That wasn't the worst of it! Silimar's Ghost meant to send the footage to Radagast- he wanted footage from at least one Ghost per patrol, so he could get a good look at anything major that might happen-but... well... If you met Silimar, then you met his Ghost." Allison was still grinning, but internally winced at the memory in pity.

"Total dunderbutt." Shaxx agreed. "He probably wouldn't have noticed if his shell was on backwards."

"Yeah, that patrol footage wound up sent to everyone. She couldn't look the other Titans in the eye for a week."

"No!" the Titan gasped. Allison cracked up again. Again, the image flashed through her mind of skinny, fledgling Timur tackling the 'mighty Titan' with a battle cry, the two of them tumbling down the ravine.

Oh, how she missed him...

"So, one out of ten; how was that?" she asked, still smiling.

"Roughly a seven. If you put your back into it, you should be able to rally the troops easily." Shaxx commented. "Work on your gestures. Body language sells it."

"So... I suppose you've all heard about me, then." no kidding about that-several Hunters were clustered up at the front, borderline hero worship plastered all over their faces. Hopefully she could manage to squash some of that."Yes, I am Darkrose. Yes, I did vex time travel. Yes, I do still somehow have my powers. No, I won't tell you how it happened, and no, I am not some invincible super hero or whatever you... youngsters might believe."

She took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"I don't believe in the Traveler. I believe in the one and only God; and say what you will about my beliefs, but you can't deny that that the cabal attack came like a reckoning. A test. You can interpret that test however you want to, but I see it as a test for Humanity. To see if we can come back from looking at a broken machine like it's a deity, and fight, think, save ourselves for once."

"The truth? The truth is that this is a harsh world. And be you divinely ignorant, or choosing your belief... be you Guardian or unpowered, man or woman, elder or child, this is where we prove we still have what it takes, or face extinction. By His will, or by our own failure."

"That is what I believe. Agree with me or don't. But that belief is why I will fight until every last drop of blood I can spare is gone from my veins. That belief is why I fight for good, for the innocent... and why I, like so many, will gladly give my all to send Ghaul back to the hell he crawled out of. He slaughtered innocents, and millions, possibly trillions before that if our intel is to be believed. And if he succeeds, there will be no escape. There will be no corner of the system, no crevice, no barren moon where you or anyone will be safe."

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors. Those rumors are true; Ghaul has a weapon that can send Sol into a supernova. It's a gun to our heads. This weapon is why your Vanguard aren't here. Anyone who wants to help work on disabling it, you'll be given coordinates to the base on Titan. For those who stay... survival is the priority. And if the Cabal come for us? Try to snuff out the last of Humanity?"

"We will not go silently into the night. We won't give up without a fight. And we'll make them rue the day they even thought about attacking us! We will not be snuffed out, and if they even come close to doing just that, they'll learn that the bulb burns brightest before it burns out."

"Can I get off this frigg'n podium now?"

So... I was stuck for the longest time trying to figure out how to go with Darkrose's speech. Then, in a moment of 'why didn't I think of this before', I decided to make her religious beliefs a part of it, and the rest just kind of wrote itself. If you don't like it, you don't have to read. And when I got stuck on the end of the speech, I decided to just do true Darkrose fashion 'Can I get off this Podium' because it's Darkrose and it sounded like that's what she would say.

As for guessing at Shaxx's appearance, I always pictured him with a sort of Gaelic look to him, even though his accent is English. It just fit more with the theme of his armor and overall personality. So that's why I went with that look, a sort of not-quite-Nix Ulric look.

But yeah, in other news, my update schedule-

*rips papers up, throws them in air* WHAT UPDATE SCHEDULE!? LETS SPEND ALL DAY PLAYING GAMBIT AND RAIDING LETS FREAKING DO THIS YEAH!

BraveSeeker3: No, no he is not. I found that particularly amusing.

BraveSeeker3(chap 9 review): Yeah, my first reaction, too.

jsm1978: Yup, I say! Yeah, It's always great to come across new strike lines. Did you see there's a Wall of Wishes easter egg that makes Riven take on Failsafe's personality? It's freaking hilarious.

alienraptor: Bows are great. Bows are lit. the raid bow with Sneak Bow perk run with Way of the Wraith is REDICULOUS.

So, my thoughts on the DLC?

AWESOME. Aside from Cayde dying, that is. The whole Awoken space elf city thing is great, and I'm loving how they did it. Never has the game felt more like a proper science fantasy than now, and I love it. I also love the Shards of Galanor. so fantastic...

I count down the days until it gets nerfed. Until then, I'm just going to enjoy them... as well as the One Thousand Voices that dropped for me yesterday...

On my first clear... I feel like such a dirty, lucky little nerdy pleb. I was only in it for the shaders.

Never got any shaders. I feel cheated.

Fare Thee Well!